


In Any Light

by DryCereal



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, Phil's profile pic(s), Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Supportive dan, Touring, Travel, based on a tweet, creepshots, ficfest, mention of Dan's wankbank, ok... someone should take tags away from me..., sneaky photography
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 16:07:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14877014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DryCereal/pseuds/DryCereal
Summary: If the only way he can reliably get a half-decent shot of Phil is by sneaking them when he’s unaware, well… Needs must.





	In Any Light

“Phil, look at that up there!” He points with his free hand, and as Phil raises his head, following the line of Dan’s outstretched fingers, searching upwards for whatever he believes has caught his attention, he quickly raises his phone and takes the picture. Keeps his thumb pressed down so his phone captures a whole selection for him to sort through later, right up until Phil hears the noise, and focuses on him for a moment, caught almost literally red-handed in this light, and grimaces, embarrassed, as he turns away as if to hide from the lens.

“ _Dannnnn..!_ ” He whines, automatically bringing his hands up over his face to smooth his hair down, before suddenly remembering his recent change in style - overcoming his years-old muscle memory, instead shoving it back off his face haphazardly, before he glares at his boyfriend in mild annoyance.

“You know I hate when you do that!” He complains, making grabby hands for Dan’s phone, then pouting when Dan snatches it away, turning slightly to keep it out of his reach as he has a quick look at the pictures he’d managed to steal.

They’re good. Worth keeping, definitely.

He’s not sure if he’ll share them though, or if he’ll keep them just for himself along with the countless others from over the years they’ve been together, and some even before they’d met. OK, so those early ones were nothing more than screenshots of Phil either from Skype, or... well. He still took them, and Phil still looks good in all of them. Else what would be the point of having kept them, especially this long?

Phil always looks good. Sometimes, he looks incredible, and occasionally, like right now, he looks fucking _edible_ , caught like that, cast in the red brake light of the car Dan was leaning against, and Dan hadn’t been able to resist at least attempting to capture the moment.

The problem though, is that Phil, Mr YouTube Dinosaur, he who earns his living sitting in front of cameras, then (ok, after editing the results) posts it online for anyone and everyone to see, he with millions of fans worldwide, _can’t pose for photos to save his life._  
  
OK, fair enough, he has his reliable set “faces” for silly pics, those for fan interactions, meet and greets, some of them are attractive, Dan has spent far too many hours helping with their development (and Phil’s confidence with them) over the years, **but**... they’re all very _AmazingPhil™._ And that might be good for work, and, truth be told, when they were prepping for this tour, for once his nerves during photoshoots paid off, given the theme, them looking mildly scared and apprehensive being the entire point… so instead of using his normal ploy of Dan rushing through his own pictures in order to leave extra time to get Phil looking somewhat relaxed in his, they just powered through all of their planned shots - it worked, and they finished up and arrived home both feeling remarkably relaxed and satisfied.

But they aren’t always working. Sometimes Dan wants a nice photo of his boyfriend. Not his colleague slash business partner slash partner in crime. Pictures they can both be happy with. If the only way he can reliably get a half-decent shot of Phil is by sneaking them when he’s unaware, well… Needs must.  
  
Does it make Phil embarrassed? Yes. Is it slightly underhanded? Yes. Occasionally for selfish reasons? Yes.  
  
_Worth all that?_ Fuck. **Yes.** He has the evidence to prove it, after all.  
  
Phil, having given up on being allowed to see the photos Dan has just taken, for now at least, is now gesturing for Dan to pose so he can return the favour. Or, as it turns out, get his revenge, as he KNOWS he’s taken at least a couple anyway, even after Dan, smiling softly, shook his head, saying “It’s ok. Just wanted one of you.” Phil might not be the best in front of a camera, but he’s always happy to be behind it, taking photo after photo when Dan’s in the mood, or feels the need to make the most of a particularly aesthetic background.  
  
It’s not long after that that they’re back in the car, and before they’ve even gotten on the motorway Phil’s pestering him to see the photos again. It’s not like he can resist, snatch the phone away out of reach, given they’re both squashed into the back seat together for the next two hours or so, the advantage of being that bit taller than Phil completely negated in their current cramped surroundings. With a sigh, he slides his phone out of his jacket pocket and hands it over, watching as Phil unlocks it and opens the photos app.  
  
He doesn’t say anything, preferring to get Phil’s natural reaction to the pictures, instead just letting his eyes flicker between the screen, as he scrolls through them in turn, and his face. Even when Phil frowns, narrowing his eyes, as he seems to pause over two in particular, flipping between them more than a couple of times, before his expression clears, as he holds the phone out to Dan.  
  
“That one.” He says decisively, as he places the phone onto Dan’s outstretched palm. “That’s the one I’d keep.”  
  
“Who says I’m not going to keep them all?” Dan replies, teasing. “Got my rep as trash numero uno to maintain, haven’t I?” He winks exaggeratedly as he finishes, chuckles outright as Phil quirks an eyebrow at him and shakes his head.  
  
“At some point, you’ll run out of storage on that phone, then you’ll have to delete some stuff. I’m just saying, well, that’s the one I’d choose to keep. That’s all.”  
  
That’s not all. That’s quite clearly not all, and Dan can’t keep from pressing a little.  
  
“So that one’s your favourite then?”  
  
“Well, yeah. It’s a good photo.”  
  
Dan resists the urge to preen a little at the compliment. He knows the phone did most of the work – the blurred background with Phil in focus smack in the centre of the frame is more good luck than careful planning on his end, but objectively, yes. It is a good photo. He’s happy Phil likes it.  
  
“It’s very on-brand right now too…”  
  
“Yeah, I s’pose it is.” He replies, biting the inside of his lip to try and keep from grinning. He can see where this is going, but he won’t push. He’ll let Phil get there in his own time.  
  
“Mmm… It’s probably make a good profile pic, don’t you think?”  
  
Dan clears his throat carefully before he answers, but the “Yeah” he answers with sounds strangled with the effort not to laugh anyway, misses the vague, almost disinterested tone he was aiming for by a _mile_.  
  
**_Bingo_**.  


“I don’t know though” he continues, teasingly, pausing as he attaches the photo Phil picked out to a message in their ongoing text conversation, “I think you might have to give the _artiste_ proper credit...!”

Phil laughs softly before replying, sliding his phone out of his pocket as it buzzes.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll make sure they all know it’s a creepshot you tricked me into having taken, don’t worry!” Phil jokes in return, as he saves the picture to his phone. Instead of opening up an app to start posting the picture though, he drops the hand holding his phone down into his lap, as his eyebrows knit together into a frown as he glances out of the window, turning away from Dan slightly.

He reaches across the gap that suddenly seems far wider than it ever has previously, and sides his hand underneath Phil’s, where it rests in his lap. After giving it a quick squeeze, he slots their fingers together and waits, as patiently as he can despite the alarm bells ringing and neon lights flashing warnings in his mind.  
  
“You don’t think-“ Phil cuts himself off with a sigh, even as he turns away from the window, back towards Dan.  He resists the urge to guess at what Phil means, even though he knows well enough what’s coming after more than eight years together – still, he’s going to let Phil voice his worries first before he does his best to obliterate them.  
  
Even if he has to push a little.  And it seems like he might.  
  
“…Phil…” he starts, when it seems as if the conversation has stalled, with worried looks bouncing between both of them. He decides on a direct approach.  
  
“If you want to use the photo, use it. I’m telling you, they’ll love it, you look great in it. If not, that’s fine. I’ll just keep it for my own… _use_.” He finishes, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. That, at least has the desired effect. Phil snorting with laughter, and nudging against his shoulder gently.  
  
“It is a good photo, isn’t it?” He queries, again, though he quickly backs down when Dan, exasperated goes to grab his phone to make him examine the photo in great detail. “I mean, I don’t- I won’t look like- “  
  
This is why Dan sneaks the photos. Treads carefully around the subject when it arises. For all Dan’s attempts to build his confidence when it flags, inside Phil, deep down there’s still that little not-ginger (he still tries to claim to this day) mousey brown haired kid, the little brother who doesn’t ever quite feel _enough_ , the awkward teen who made up for his lack of confidence by being extra… _everything_ , who whilst having plenty of friends never really got close with any of them… Who blossomed into this gorgeous, brave, if not entirely self-confident man that Dan is so, **so** lucky to get to call _his_ , even if he can’t (yet) tell the world in so many words… yeah. He can show a stripped-down version of it at least.  
  
And if he needs their legion of followers to back him up when giving Phil’s confidence a boost sometimes, well, so be it. He’ll share the photos instead of hoarding them, it’s a small price to pay for the pleased-looking flush that just barely shows under the streaking lights of the motorway when Phil sees the reaction to the picture once he taps that little blue oval.

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, thanks to winston(lives) for being my beta and the handholding through this one...! Now go read her fics, cos she's better'n me! <3
> 
> I know, I know... it barely counts as a tour fic, aside from it happening during the UK tour, and including a journey between venues - I got a better, more tour-involving idea last night, which I may still write, but not today. Patience, m'loves! :D
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this though - now either come yell at me until I next post something on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/DryCerealThief) or [Tumblr](https://drycerealthief.tumblr.com) or go read the other FicFest fics, cos I'm sure they'll be incredible! <3


End file.
